1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cooking appliances, and more particularly to outdoor barbecue cookers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many devices and accessories on the market for outdoor cooking. These devices are similar in that they provide heat underneath a grill on which food to be cooked is placed. This basic position of food above heat causes safety problems, as well as improper cooking. Fat and liquids from the food drip down onto the flames and burn, causing flare-ups. Sometimes these flare-ups burn the food--but worse, they can also burn the operator.
There are grill accessories on the market, but they are primarily for expanding the uses of indoor stoves. U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,515 to Hayes discloses a device for insertion into a wood heating stove with vertical side walls and an opening such as a door in one of the side walls. Hayes' device provides a removable broiler tray which holds food above the flame. It is not meant to be used in a top opening, outdoor cooker.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,651 to Garcia provides a box device to be used either on a conventional indoor stove or an outdoor grill. Garcia addresses the problem of flare-ups by an arrangement of vertically spaced grease catching traps. However, Garcia's device still places food above the heat source. Furthermore, by trapping the grease before it reaches the heat source, the Garcia device must thus be thoroughly cleaned after each use.
There are other problems with conventional outdoor cookers. Although some models provide adjustable cooking temperatures, the normal placement of burners makes keeping food warm difficult. In addition, most models are lit from underneath the barbecue grill--an awkward and sometimes dangerous position for the operator.
Also a further problem is the size of most barbecue grills. Most have parts which are larger than household sinks, making clean-up a problem.
No device is presently known which provides above-the-food heating in an attachment for conventional models of outdoor barbecue grills. No grill accessories are found that are easy to install in either a permanent or temporary mode in a variety of models of outdoor barbecue grills.
No device is known for preventing flare-ups in open flame cooking which is adaptable to conventional barbecue grills, is inexpensive to produce, and is easy to install, operate and clean.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a device which will cook food by supplying heat above the food, thereby eliminating the problem of "flare-ups".
It is another object of this invention to provide a device which can be placed in the lid of conventional outdoor barbecue cookers.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a device which can be fastened, either permanently or temporarily, to a previously owned outdoor barbecue cooker.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device in an outdoor barbecue grill which can keep foods warm after they are cooked.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a grill converter which can be safely and easily lit.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a device which, by the addition of heat transferring bricks, can assure a wide spread heat source.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a device which is easily removed and disassembled for cleaning.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a grill converter which can be used with both electric or gas outdoor barbecue cookers.
These and other objects will be more readily ascertainable to one skilled in the art from a consideration of the following Figures, description and exemplary embodiments.